


since auld lang syne

by Dawn_Blossom



Series: Chrom/Grima in Askr [9]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, light alcohol consumption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 12:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: Grima attends a New Year's party.





	since auld lang syne

**Author's Note:**

> 2018 was really Grima's year, huh ^^
> 
> Title is of course from good ol' Auld Lang Syne. It's the only New Year's song I know, so I was lucky that I could find a fitting lyric from it.
> 
> Anyway, I guess I'll just say Happy New Year! I hope 2019 brings you all peace and happiness!

The humans all get so excited at the end of the year. It is frivolous, to be certain, but of all the holidays they celebrate, Grima perhaps understands this one the best. Human lives are so fleeting; they _should_ be grateful for every new year they get to see.

Grima, of course, has never taken it upon himself to commemorate the transition of one year to the next. Even when he was being worshipped as a god, he never truly walked among them… They gave him blood, and he destroyed their enemies. He did not bother with their celebrations, and they did not invite him to join. Would he have joined if they had asked him to?

… It doesn’t matter. Those times are long gone.

Now that he lives in Askr, he could not possibly avoid the New Year’s Festival even if he tried. Heroes come and go dressed in fanciful clothing, and Grima cannot go more than two minutes without seeing someone decorated in holiday accessories. Furthermore, Morgan is absolutely thrilled to be experiencing a party for what is probably the first time (or second, given the recently concluded Winter Festival… but Grima could not bring himself to engage then, not when that other version of himself was walking around with such innocent holiday cheer). Chrom is used to throwing a huge New Years party every year in Ylisstol, and if anyone can handle Morgan’s enthusiasm, it is him. Even Lucina is in a cheerful mood tonight; she’s grinning as she brings him a vibrant red drink that she insists looks like the color of his eyes. (She has already half-drained her own serving, and Grima suspects that the liquor might already be affecting her judgment… though he nevertheless raises his glass with her and downs the liquid that far more resembles rubies than his blood-dark irises.)

And so as unfamiliar as this festival is to him, Grima does not feel out of place. He is not alone; his true companions are never far from his side, and that alone is an appropriate reason for him to celebrate.Everyone is here to remember the year that is over and express their hope for the future. For the first time in Grima’s memory, he feels that it could be worthwhile for him to do both.

The past year has been the single best of his life. When he arrived in Askr with partial amnesia and a painful longing for an Ylissean royal that he could not quite remember, he could not have possibly suspected that his situation would lead to… happiness. 

Yes, this is the first time he will end a year happy. Chrom is too caring, Lucina too sweet, Morgan too loyal, and all of them too forgiving. And yet he loves them all so deeply that he could mistake it for pain… except it is nothing like the despair and misery he has suffered for so long. They have irrevocably changed his perspective; he can no longer even see why he thought there was nothing of worth in the whole world. Under his old view, the world was so awful… and so doomed. But now he can see what his companions always have: there is enough good in the world to save… and what is evil can be changed.

He has hope for the future… Hope for this new year, hope for far beyond it… If he had ever hoped in his past, he was always disappointed in the end. And yet he will dare to hope again now, because Chrom, Lucina, Morgan, and he have already defied fate. Each of them come from a dark timeline, the kind of world that their alternate selves think on with horror. And yet they are all here together, alive and truly well despite all logic saying they should have met a tragic end.

.”Fuck destiny,” he mutters to himself. “I was created to destroy, but…”

But his power is his alone. He is glad to have it, for without it he could not protect what is important to him. It does not mean, however, that he must destroy mindlessly. He _will_ control it; it will not take over him. (And if it does… Lucina has already beaten him once.)

“Hey, did you say something?” 

At the sound of Chrom’s approach, Grima looks up from the empty glass he had been staring into. His lover is frowning, far too serious. It is typical of him. The other heroes tend to think of Chrom as a friendly and lighthearted man, perhaps even a bit of a bumbling and foolish one. They do not see the pains he takes to be of help to everyone, the way he suffers when he feels he cannot be of use, the effort he puts in each day to becoming a little better than he was the day before.

Grima will later blame it on the alcohol (though his single glass cannot truly be the deciding factor), but he is nearly overwhelmed with affection so powerful that he does the only thing he can think of at the moment.

He grabs Chrom and kisses him.

He is too much in love to do it lightly, the fact of their being in public notwithstanding. Chrom begins to respond in kind, his teeth grazing over Grima’s lip… but then he pulls away.

“Practicing for midnight, are you?” Chrom’s eyes are full of mirth, but the affection in them mirrors Grima’s own feelings.

“I take it you expect me to kiss you again at midnight, then,” Grima says. He crosses his arms, unwilling to look overly eager.

“Well, it _is_ a longstanding tradition in Ylisse,” Chrom says with a grin. “Sharing a midnight kiss brings good luck for the new year.”

“And you really believe that works?” Grima scoffs. Unless some skilled spellcaster imbues their kiss with magic, it can have no real power. 

And yet… Perhaps having a partner to kiss at all is evidence enough of good fortune.

“We can see for ourselves whether or not there’s any truth to the tradition,” Chrom says. “The countdown will begin in just a few minutes.”

“You literally count the seconds?” Grima chuckles..

…. But sure enough, about half of the party’s occupants suddenly start yelling out numbers. Those who aren’t familiar with the particular tradition soon catch on, and the chorus grows even louder.

“Ten!”

Grima looks at Chrom.

“Nine!”

Chrom gives an “I told you so” shrug.

“Eight!”

Grima rolls his eyes.

“Seven!”

Chrom steps closer to him.

“Six!”

Grima places his hands on Chrom’s shoulders.

“Five!”

Chrom meets his gaze.

“Four!”

Grima’s breath catches. Everything is warm. He is really here…

“Three!”

Chrom caresses Grima’s face.

“Two!”

They are halves of a whole.

“One!”

Grima strikes precisely.

“Happy New Year!” people shout, but Grima tunes their voices out the second his lips crash against Chrom’s.

It is the happiest new year he has ever had.


End file.
